Teddy Sheringham allegedly carried his first five yards in his. Which, if nothing else, gave him the most capacious cranium in sport.

Meanwhile, according to his manager, Cesc Fabregas has a hamstring in the brain.

Many a time in the recent past this condition has compromised the Spaniard’s place in the Arsenal team.

And if not implying his captain is yet ready to take on Harry Kewell’s discarded mantle as the Premier League’s leading hypochondriac, Arsène Wenger reckons it is about time he stops worrying about his fitness every time he plays and starts to enjoy the game again.

There can be no doubt that the returning Fabregas will have enjoyed Monday night.

How he will have relished popping home his team’s second goal from Theo Walcott’s cut back. How he will have delighted, moments later, in returning the favour for the England winger to finish deliciously.

But most of all, how the skipper will have savoured leading his side as they emerged from what was becoming the most suffocating statistical blanket in the Premier League.

Finally, after being outmuscled at Old Trafford, with their captain’s feet back on the tiller, Arsenal found the wherewithal to sneak ahead of one of their championship rivals.

And best of all, it was a victory as comprehensive as it was timely.

Entering this game on a record of five defeats in their last five meetings with their London adversaries, Arsenal’s title hopes this season depended on that statistic rapidly being consigned to history.

How relieved Wenger would have been, then, that Fabregas’s malfunctioning mental muscle had loosened sufficiently for him to turn out.

That’s what he needed on a crisp Yuletide evening when all we had to keep us warm was the crackle of shins under close attention of studs: a player whose mental computer works in the most overwrought circumstances.

Playing just behind Robin van Persie at the apex of a midfield five, Fabregas made his intention plain with his first touch, a lovely flick to Samir Nasri that suggested a player keen to make up for recent absence.

A couple of moments later, a little turn and run, outwitting John Obi Mikel and Frank Lampard on the edge of the area, reminded Arsenal’s support quite what he brings to their side.

Wenger believes, however, that Fabregas’s contribution extends way beyond such cameos. At the ripe old age of 23, he acts as an elder statesman, guiding the more callow talents around him.

“He gives you an insurance,” Wenger said of the Spaniard, “a confidence on the ball, a confidence in possession.”

It was surely no coincidence that with their mentor restored alongside them, Jack Wilshire – a winning combination of tenacity and technique – and Walcott – for once remembering to take the ball with him when arriving in dangerous positions – both had their most effective game in a while.

Walcott, indeed, could do no wrong for the Arsenal crowd, not just for that third goal, but also for the manner he cleverly drew the still unforgiven Ashley Cole into a booking, an event celebrated in these parts almost with the vigour of a championship win.

It was a night when Cole must have wondered if he made the right move all those years ago.

This is not a good time to be in a Chelsea shirt. Here was Cole, back in familiar parts of North London, one of the few effective members of a visiting side apparently disintegrating before our very eyes.

Even Didier Drogba, a man whose record against Arsenal suggests he only need turn out to score, looked listless and ineffective.

Against such opponents, even Arsenal’s back line, a quartet capable of sending alarm spinning through their supporters every time the opposition attack, had little to fear.

In fact, what we were witnessing here was a tectonic shift in statistics. Now the numbers nightmare is all Chelsea and Carlo Ancelotti’s: no wins in six games, a figure that had the Arsenal fans gleefully predicting the visitors’ manager would be seeking fresh employment opportunities before the year is out.

As for Arsenal, this was a night when Wenger’s romantic theory that victory can be best achieved not by out-defending the opposition but by out-passing them was given glorious vindication.

And this just a fortnight after a resurgent Manchester United made it look a forlorn concept.

“The difference between a good team and a great team is very small,” said Fabregas, when receiving his man of the match champagne.

Some might conclude after this performance the difference has more physical definition: it is when Fabregas himself overcomes his cerebral health problem like this that Arsenal become true contenders.

Are Wenger’s side equipped to win title?

Attitude There was a purpose to Arsenal’s football which is often lacking in these summit meetings. The hosts were determined not to be bullied by Chelsea’s musclemen.

Leadership Cesc Fabregas has had a quiet season by his standards but he was more prominent last night, cajoling and prompting with trademark threaded passes. Johan Djourou and Alex Song provided good support.

Solidity Arsenal’s soft underbelly was still exposed on occasion, particularly in Chelsea’s goal. Lukasz Fabianski could have come to claim a ball that travelled deep into his penalty area, while Laurent Koscielny is far from a rock-solid centre half.

Firepower Recurring criticism of Arsenal’s pretty play – that they make little headway against grizzled opponents – was destroyed, albeit with the help of dire defending. Theo Walcott was more direct after the break, but Wenger could do with Robin van Persie rediscovering his pep.